Hamas Applauds Tel Aviv Suicide Bombing

A 21-year-old Palestinian named Sami Salim Mohammed Hammed blew himself up outside a Tel Aviv restaurant today, killing at least nine. The attack was carried out by Islamic Jihad and endorsed by Hamas, the current ruling party in the Palestinian Authority:

“We think that this operation … is a direct result of the policy of the occupation and the brutal aggression and siege committed against our people,” said Khaled Abu Helal, spokesman for the Hamas-led Interior Ministry.

Earlier, Moussa abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader abroad, told Al-Jazeera television that “the Israeli side must feel what the Palestinian feels, and the Palestinian defends himself as much as he can.”

The bomb had the usual horrific results:

Witness Israel Yaakov said the blast killed a woman standing near her husband and children.

“The father was traumatized. He went into shock. He ran to the children to gather them up and the children were screaming, ‘Mom! Mom!’ and she wasn’t answering, she was dead already … it’s a shocking scene,” Yaakov said.

Another witness, 62-year-old Sonya Levy, said she had just finished shopping when the blast occurred.

“I was about to get into my car, and boom! There was an explosion. A bit of human flesh landed on my car and I started to scream,” she said. Her car was 50 yards from the explosion and its windshield was smeared with blood.

The BBC has photos of the blast scene; the Associated Press has video here, and Reuters has video coverage here. The Jerusalem Post’s coverage is here. The photo below shows the bomber in a video released by Islamic Jihad.